Critic Reviews

MobyRanks are listed below. You can read here for more information about MobyRank.

100

Just Adventure

Premium packaging on the enhanced edition would imply “collectors’ edition” status, but this is the regular version of the game. Included are music CDs of the original soundtrack featuring celtic, hard rock, metal, vocal experiments, reggae/dub, and electronic music. The making-of DVD has the remastered behind-the-scenes story of making The Witcher and developer interviews. Also included is the official game guide and a short story from The Witcher author, Andrzej Sapkowski about Geralt.

If you’re a fan of the Witcher’s world or someone looking for a mature and gritty dark fantasy world. Look no further than this edition of the game. You can get all the bonus materials from the website if you have an original copy of the first release or you can go out and buy it again and support the fine folks at CD Projekt RED who have busted their backsides since the game first came out to bring the gamers what they wanted, a new version of the Witcher with forum suggested tweaks and changes.

The Witcher is the sort of game people will look back on in ten years with great fondness, the sort of reaction reserved for only the very best titles. Anybody who claims to love PC games should check it out, there really is little excuse not to.

The Witcher is in better shape than ever, and gamers that played the original will be jealous of those who can enjoy the game for the first time in its higher form. Don't worry, though, as the Enhanced Edition gives Witcher veterans a perfect excuse to replay a sure-to-be classic. The alterations offer new conveniences, a greater sense of realism, and best of all, reasonably coherent dialogue. These changes serve only to bolster what was already present: a fun, engaging Western style RPG. Upon reexamination, The Witcher is truly superb.

Not only is the Enhanced edition a great value, but it is also one of the best CRPGs to come out in some time. If you dig dark and deep fantasy settings, you cannot go wrong with The Witcher. The different choices you can make in the game, the ability to create your own modules with the D'jinni editor, and the game world itself all blend together to create a sublime gaming experience. If you missed out on the original release or just want to play through the game again, the Enhanced Edition is an amazing value at $40. This is definitely not a game to skip over!

Overall, The Witcher: Enhanced Edition is an amazing game. The combat system, while quite solid, may not grab everyone. The plot, characters and ability to affect the story will. What The Witcher: Enhanced Edition lacks in technical prowess and polish, it makes up for in heart. Every RPGamer who has ever complained of superficial plot devices and the lack of true decision making abilities in video game RPGs should absolutely give this game a run through. Anyone who plays this game will remember it for many years to come, and that is one of the highest forms of praise RPGamer can bestow on a game.

Reviewing The Witcher Enhanced Edition is difficult, because more than any expansion pack, Game of the Year Edition or other remake, this game is The Witcher, released in 2007. This is in no way a condemnation of Enhanced Edition. It's just as fun, original, and exciting as the original. Still, for the uninitiated and the faithful, this new edition needs to be introduced and examined.

Some may find the pervading tone a little on the distasteful side: this isn't a game world of fluffy kittens, demons and clear-cut morality - The Witcher is more about anti-heroes, moral conundrums and trying to walk the least evil path, rather than trying to save the world. Thanks to its Eastern European roots, The Witcher is a very different RPG to those you may be familiar with, so if you consider yourself to be a connoisseur of the genre, the release of the Enhanced Edition - with its multitude of fixes and improvements over the original - now means that the game is essential playing.

Just in case you aren't familiar with The Witcher (since if you live outside of Poland, you probably don't know the writing of Andrzej Sapkowski, the author upon whose work the game is based), the game is usually described as a dark, violent and sexy world in which a lone mutant faces a series of challenging moral choices. In truth, it's a great game with an engaging story that is absolutely worth playing, but it's not that dark or sexy (at least in the United States). But it sure is violent.

This is a great game for those who love single-player RPGs, now that the story has been re-dubbed and explained better, the game is everything we had hoped it would be a year ago, only now they got it right.

Barring the initial installation bugs, this is what The Witcher should have been last year. While the original game was an undeniably very good RPG epic with one of the most authentically adult storylines to ever grace the genre, this overhauled edition has turned that near-classic into a near-masterpiece.

The Witcher: Enhanced Edition is one of the best PC RPGs to come out in years and should be in the running for best PC title of the year along with another RPG, Fallout 3. The fact that we put it in the same league as a gem like Fallout 3 should say enough. If you are an RPG player then you should not skip out on The Witcher because it has it all, visuals, audio, gameplay, story, and scantly clad women/dryads/hookers/etc. The title has captured this reviewer so fully that he is running off to purchase the English language translations after submitting this very review.

That said, it isn't a game we can recommend for everyone because the vast number of gamers are likely to be put off by the huge game world and complex mechanics. If you’re a serious RPG fan though, in the mood for something that’ll give you hundreds of hours of gameplay and plenty of twists, turns and lingerie along the way then The Witcher: Enhanced Edition is a definite must-have.

Overall, The Witcher is a great game when there are enemies to kill and the story is actually progressing, but when everything slows down it really doesn’t work out so well. The new additions in the Enchanced Edition are certainly a large incentive to pick up the game this time around, especially when you factor in the non-game content. This game is as good as it gets for most RPG fans on the PC, and The Witcher is sure to give you an enjoyable experience despite the pacing issue.

"Similar Quality" is nagging in my ears a bit. Last year was bad for the PC RPG. This year, at least so far, has been even worse. In such times it's easier to look kindly on The Witcher, even the original version. The new and improved package is increasingly attractive. There are still some rough edges, and moments of genuine drama are still undercut by how they're performed, but this is an agreeably driven RPG in an agreeably ornate package. I also believe the developers' continued support for the game and commitment to expensive improvements - which I stress you'll be able to download and patch into any existent version - should be applauded. If you've been umming and ahhing over trying the Witcher, I think this is enough to push you into a straight Ah!

Of course, if the strengths are the same, so are (most of) the weaknesses. The main adventure still has serious pacing problems, combat's still too easy for the most part, and load times -- though reduced -- continue to get in the way of the action. If you thought The Witcher seemed like a cool game but never got around to buying it, Enhanced Edition gives you the perfect opportunity. But if you didn't see anything you liked before, you won't find any reasons to change your mind here.

Overall, The Witcher was a game which strived for the peaks of the highest mountains, but only reached the base camp. This is still an accomplishment and the game is certainly good, it just never quite reaches the rarefied air it strove so hard for.